Injections, Transfusion, and Biopsy, Oh My!

This is going to be a crazy week.   

Sure enough, as everyone expected, my white counts dropped to an absurd .4 on Friday morning. That led to a weekend of seclusion at the house, away from visitors and well-wishers and crowds, so that I would not risk getting sick or catching a fever.    That happened last month about this time and put me back in the hospital for a quaint 5-day stay.  

But this morning at CBC, lab work showed my white count was back up to a level of 2.62 which is still low, but on the upswing based on supporting data from other hematology results.

I received my Neupogen injection this morning as well, plus an injection of Velcade, the cancer drug that Dr. Zhong administers 4 times a month. And take a look at this needle . . . not your everyday conventional one, is it?
  

Looks more like a rocket with some kind of booster engine on it. But Diane is pretty good at injecting that with a minimum of discomfort or burning sensation.

As for this week's activity, it's going to be hectic.
  

Tuesday at 10 am is a nice, comfy needle biopsy of my bone marrow. Dr. Tse will perform this down at the U of L Graham Brown Cancer Center. The purpose of this test will be to determine if I need a 3rd round of chemo, or if its okay to begin a stem cell harvest program. I'm hoping that most, if not all, of these plasma cells have been killed off.   But I am also realistic enough to know that the percentage of plasma cells originally in the bone marrow was quite high in the beginning and needs to be practically "negligible" for the transplant to be successful. Results should be back by late Tuesday or Wednesday.

After that fun little procedure, I immediately head back to Baptist for a transfusion of platelets. Oh yeah, my platelet count this morning was a 15, which is super low. The slightest little cut or scrape and I could bleed like a stuck pig. Platelets help the blood clot, so its important I get the number back to normal, which for me is in the 150 -200 range.

Wednesday is more lab work, including a Neupogen injection if necessary. Hopefully, my white counts will have recovered enough by then that an injection won't be necessary. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thursday, believe it or not, I have NOTHING scheduled . . . not even lab work. Maybe I can arrange to make that 11 am tee time after all . . . HA . . . I wish!!

And Friday, it's back to CBC for follow-up lab work and another injection. 

So, just another dull, humdrum week of tests, and needles, and transfusions. How's your week going?